Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

¶Of the riuer Gion. Cap. 5.

THE riuer Gion is called Nilus also, and is a riuer of Mesopotamia, and commeth out of Paradise, and is called the ioyning of the earth, or earthye, for it is troubly, carthic, slimie, & wosie, & a∣riseth not far from Athlante, & passeth a∣bout the land Aethiopia, and commeth downe by Aegypt, and moysteth the Playnes thereof. And so Super Amos, he saith vpon that word, Defluit, quasi riuus Aegypti. That Riuer Nylus, by disposition of God, moysteth all Aegypt once a yeare, and heapes of grauell close the mouths therof, that it falleth not in∣th•• Sea, and after the moysting of the lande, the heapes of grauell diuide and fall away, and Nilus turneth againe in∣to his owne chanell, and passeth into the sea, and is swallowed into the Sea at the last. This riuer Nilus féedeth & no∣risheth many manners of créeping & ve∣nemous beasts noyfull and grieuous, as Crocodiles, and a little beast, which is called Enidros. Of whom Isidore li. 12. ca. 2. saith, that that beast Enidros, is a little beast, and hath that name Enidros, for he dwelleth in waters, and namelye in the riuer that is called Nilus. And if this little beast findeth a Crocodile slée∣ping, he walloweth and wrappeth him∣selfe first in senne and wose, and then commeth in at the mouth of the Croco∣dile and goeth into his wombe, and all to renteth his guts and slayeth him, and

so ••yeth. Also sup. Eccelesi. 24. There the Glose saith, that Gion, that is riuer Ni∣lus is troubly, and draweth much slime and wose and there because of slyme and wo••e that he beareth with him in his course, he maketh the land that he o∣uerpasseth to be full plenteous of corne, and fruite.

(* 1.1Gyon called Nylus, a famous and great Riuer, running thorough Aethiopia and Aegypt, and is suppo∣sed to bée one of the Riuers of Para∣dise, called in the holye Scripture, Ge∣hon, that signifieth the breast of slowing foorth, that as creatures are nourished of milke, so is the soyle by ouerflowing the valleyes. Albeit it seemeth to me vn∣lykelye, forasmuch as in Genesis it is written, that Gehon inuironeth all Ae∣thiopia, where is no mention made, that it passeth through Aegypt, albeit y^e Ae∣gypt and the Riuer Nilus, were more nigh to Moses, when he wrote, the booke Genesis, then Aethiope was, and also Nilus was famous for the vertue of the water thereof, which ouerflowing the countrey of Aegypt, made y^e ground wonderfull fertill many yeares after: so that without labouring y^e earth brought forth abundaunce of sundry graines and plants delectable and profitable. Also beastes of sundry kindes, without other forme of generation: especially, when the Riuer came to the deepenesse of 40. Cubites. Likewise, when it exceeded not eight cubites, there succéeded much fa∣mine and scarcitie. D. Cooper in his Dictionarie.

Nilus the most famous Riuer of the world, from the time that the Sunne be in Tropico Cancri, vntill it come vnto the Equinoctiall line, in Libra againe, with an huge aboundaunce of water, doeth ouerflowe all the Downes, and playne Countryes of Aegypt. By the altitude and deepenesse of the floude, the Aegyptians foresee the plentye and scarcitye of fruites to come. Po∣lidore Virgil in his first Booke, xv. Chapter.)

Notes

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